Huge TV ratings have turned up the heat on the NSW government stumping up the money to keep the Australian Open golf championships in Sydney.
AAP can reveal the final rounds of both the world-first dual-gender Australian Open, co-hosted by The Australian and Lakes clubs, and the Australian PGA Championship in Brisbane both proved massive ratings winners for the booming sport.
Min Woo Lee's wizardry and the compelling climax to the Open on Sunday drove both ratings and attendance figures to levels rarely seen since the halcyon days of Greg Norman proving the Pied Piper of the fairways in the 1980s and '90s.
Golf Australia on Thursday said free-to-air television ratings were up an incredible 187 per cent for the final round compared to last year.
Lee's PGA Championship victory at Royal Queensland and the drama of the men's and women's Australian Opens when Joaquin Niemann and Ashleigh Buhai ultimately prevailed also pushed crowd figures to more than 110,000 spectators at the two flagship events.
The last day of the Open delivered an average TV audience of 438,000 across the Nine Network and more than 100,000 viewers on Foxtel, making it the number one rated STV program for the day.
Total crowds for the Australian Open were also up 12 per cent on last year's event co-hosted in Melbourne by the Victoria and Kingston Heath golf clubs.
PGA of Australia CEO Gavin Kirkman said the figures were reflective of the groundswell of interest golf is experiencing at every level and the thrilling nature of the game being played at the highest level.
"The enormous galleries we saw fill the fairways at both events created an electric atmosphere that I have no doubt enhanced the viewing experience of those at home," Kirkman said.
Despite the success Sydney is at major risk of losing the Open next year.
Destination NSW has expressed its desire to keep the tournament but says it needs more government funding to do so.
